negotiations with LPP controllers. only blonde can do it.

from very first days in Ljubljana i noticed a weird system of the public transportation. and for some time already was thinking to add something about LPP (public transport company in Ljubljana) and my experiences. after what happened this morning, i could not resist on sharing with everyone. i`ve been caught by controllers & still have no idea what are the fines for not having a bus ticket.

So here it goes...

people do not read

working in communications is awesome, however it is hard work, to make people READ and afterwards also hear what was said. i cannot tell you in percents, but we people are LAZY persons.

a BET to win - find out who was the winner.

My first try of making pancakes.

exactly two weeks ago it was, when i got myself into a bet. it was about predicting the date and time of when exactly would reach round number of 20 000 registered members in Challenge:Future. Did all i could by helping to make myself to win...asked my dear Facebook friends, posted a blog post...

learn from your own mistakes.

when you ask someone an advice, do you usually listen to it? well, you may listen, if you feel persuated that his or her opinion you consider acceptable. nevertheless, people are one strange kind, they do like to make the same mistakes more than once, and more over, don`t hear the other experiences, but to do their own, and sometimes get into the same shoes, with the same mistakes.

today i cannot say i made any such a mistakes...however, learning recipes from internet may be a huge mistake. what did I do? well, remember i as testing some time ago an avocado hair masque? Well, that experiment went amazingly well and the result, i was satisfied, however not completely... so that lead me to trying other type of home made / natural hair masks...

however this time i somehow failed...still pieces of bananas are stuck in my silky, blonde and lovely hair...tried washing...tried shaking them out...tried washing again....should try combing, but afraid that`s going to hurt....

Outcome - do not try the hair masque - 2 bananas, one yolk. bad outcome. well, at least i learn my lesson.

new day, new look...is the new always better?

yesterday started to use the new dashboard on writing my blog. but as here is brand new dashboard done by google, could not stand away and make some layout changes and put some other colors to my blog...wanted to make it feel like winter times, as winter is now in ljubljana...id i manage, still not sure. however the red colors i choose makes me think and feel Latvian part in my blog at least.

now i am off to enjoy a little bit of winter times in Ljubljana.

things its better not to know - small world it is.

there exists right time and place...the great things happen. People are happy, satisfied, life`s great. once you are thrown other side of the situation...being the wrong time in the wrong place? What happen then?

this cold feeling in the mornings from a window,
does not motivates to get out of bed and go to work.

this week in my work inbox a message from a BEST friend arrived, looking around for an internship. yes, world gets small, and this is not yet the first one still. And what is the maybe funniest, maybe not really, that friend was not aware I am working there. an interesting happening.

that was not all the fun, just a part...more over... since forever i`ve had this habit to be in the wrong time and place, to hear or to see things, that i better would not known. I like to think its all by accident than with a bad fortune. however...this week again it happen. now this will bother and make me think about it also during the weekend...what a "lucky" girl i am. how to deal with an information you do not need, but also there is no way to let it go, as it is just now stuck in your head and keeps up reminding that its there? maybe the weekend of keeping me busy will do the trick...will see, will see. Life`s not fair sometimes at all.

friends, networks, people, crowds.

i always liked philosophy. not much because of those "smart" people in past sharing "important" life visions, but because i can be one of the "smart" ones and leave my mind to play around, moreover if you have another mind the same and then the philosophy starts...

by being far from home and the life i have lived for more than 20 years, somehow have started to think of a meaning "friend".

with myself, i would say i am bad friend. yes i do have many networks and connections and people around me, but with all that there are times, that i am still alone. nothing sucks worse than feeling alone, no matter how many people are around. having a networks does not mean particularly to be friends, even more a close friends.

times changes, friends changes, true friends stays.

alucinante day.

Inspired from HIMYM, just
because saw the latest episode

I am sitting now front of computer with an avocado hair mask in my hair. want to point out the mask, as I just made if like an experiment of the self made masks, and feeling on having a pieces of avocado together with some other stuff in your hair, when you do not know whats going to be a result, is quite interesting. however now I am  wondering on the topic - can working be awesome and make your day awesome? 

besides that i spent most of the day "hand writing" postcards for C:F Community members,

feel myself.

there are many ups and downs in life. once you are down, at some point you are starting to go up again. And today i feel myself going up. somehow a bunch of motivation and positiveness is all around. I don`t want to look up for a reason, no need for that. Just going to enjoy my going up days. 

if you feel inspired and want to do something good, why not to visit my guestbook page and leave me some  nice note. 

Enjoy. 

S.

my very first TEDx event.

C:F Office @backstage after TEDxYouthDay@Ljubljana.

as you may heard then Ljubljana on weekends is boring and almost empty. however, if there are right people, the time and place you can find yourself in such a great events and places, that you will never feel Ljubljana is boring.

working in a youth organization such as Challenge:Future, its one of the best places to find out about what going on and what happening around Slovenia, especially if you are not local and do not speak local language.

missing part of last week AKA helping out a friend.

Ze and me @streets
of Ljubljana

with no notice, but sunday is here. time is never stopping. well, life in Ljubljana for me somehow do stops on weekends. But before i do talk about weekend, lets go back some days.

A week ago I received a message from Su, asking if I could help her out and host her friend, who is coming in couple of days because with couchsurf had no luck and is still with no place to stay. as Su and me we both are BESTies, then by a mutual trust and some friendship in past, could not say her no. and so I put myself into hosing a friend of friend for couple of days.

like episode from Dexters` cartoon - Life in Ljubljana.

more and more i have the feeling that something is wrong with this city. and today somehow a flashback came in my mind from a years ago when i was a fan of cartoon Dexter,

A BET to win.

couple of days i made a BET. seems I am going to loose it. Unless you can help me out and take two min to sign up: www.challengefuture.org/signup/ which is platform for the project I am currently working with - Global Student Competitions and Youth Think Tank.

The victory is very very close 76 more sign ups in platform. but I am running out of time, as the bet expires today at midnight CET time then everyone who reads this if he signs up, it will bring me the victory.

Whats the bet for? Well, in case I will win, I am going to tell you. But can spread that its a worth on winning. So please use your two min and help me out.

Soy de Letonia aka ESN Tandem learning.

A fog is covering Ljubljana already for the 3rd day,
even though it may be beautiful, now it also gets frustrating.

what is the best way on spending a late Tuesday evening? this week i decided to join ESN Ljubljana organized event named Tandem language learning. have to admit, in my erasmus Barcelona times, even though i did wanted to join at least one ESN event, somehow there were so many things going on that i did not made to join any. Here in Ljubljana this is my second ESN event for erasmus, and seems to be quite cool.

Yes, i did not expect anything much from tonight,

Ljubljana like Ezītis Miglā & Prince/Princess

If you were wondering where have I disappeared, then know that i am still here, nothing by this weekend have changed much. Weekend have passed with no big changes, besides its indeed getting more and more colder, and we can see more fog around, or to be precise nothing much more than fog in the morning and afternoons.

Today work was passing with no unusual surprises, although I made a bet today and looking forward to win it in couple of days. Hopefully with some secret talent and luck it will happen. hate loosing, so have to win.

After a work, as it was set some longer time ago, I went to reception organized by Latvian Embassy, opening of photo exhibition / celebrating 18th of November, as I like to call - Birthday of Latvia. I already told it, but have to say once again, being from a small country sometimes is a nice feeling.

falling in love happens.

it is 11.11.11 and clock almost reaching 11.11, many lonely numbers, but people use to think that its a magical day. Nobody likes loneliness, so i decided to share my magical story tonight in this magical date. Enjoy friday 11th of November.

it happened a time ago, longer or shorter time, that is irrelevant. but story goes like this...i met a guy. 

Latvia @ international dinner - S. story.

at it was set couple of days ago, then there was held a ERASMUS student gathering named international dinner. it is thirty minutes before a midnight and i just home from this, if i have the chance to say, very great gathering. most of all this was my first time meeting most of my dear other latvian erasmus students that have been here more or less the same period of time. you may feel,

meeting up with Latvian Ambassador day.

A Latvian flag from an Ambassadors very
own table now part of my table for awhile.

just now finished my Gmail clean up, and while going through most of old e-mails, its amazing what you can find there. Many great reminders of many parts of my life. but conclusion that i came up, is that I am one lucky girl or a little bit persistence is my friend. And i do believe than things happen with some reason, and best things happen when you least expect it.

Besides an very busy and challenging day at C:F office...

amazing things happened with me today.

being blonde and no knowledge of IT evening.

when i started my blog, i could not imagine, how interesting, sometimes time consuming and sometimes difficult it is to run it. so i am proud of myself, the blog is on for more than 2 months now, yes exactly I have been in Ljubljana already that long. happy to see its been a great time here and also that my blog is growing. Thank you each and everyone who sends me lovely or motivating feedback, as well just a nice words. it is great feeling. And surprises to receive comments from a friends i havent heard for ages. you are awesome.

for some time i was wondering why i do receive direct messages from friends and not comments in my blog. well blondie is not much in friends with IT, so thanks to some clicks here and there - comments option dissaperas with no notice, just gone. as it seems was gone for quite some time, but well - Changed. after more than hour looking and discovering whats wrong. comments feature is back in my blog.

I would love to see your comments also in my blog, even short notes, its really motivating.
Thank you.
S.

Flashbacks from Trieste.

A foggy morning, leaving LJ, reaching Trieste, going for free
in public bus and enjoying real Italian ice cream.

Italy trip and Trieste somehow feels like long in past,but then i realize, ohh, it was just yesterday. as it was lovely sunday and no chance to get any nice postcard to be sent home. as I was yesteday promising, here are some photo postcards of our yesterdays lovely adventures. Enjoy.

two blondes goes for coffee to Italy.

S. and Ieva @ Trieste suburbs

we have been talking about a common hitchhiking trip, i think since ever we got to know each other in Slovenia. sunday was the day, that S. and Ieva, went for hitchhiking trip together. After saturday discussions and finding out that Trieste is closer than Maribor, one, two three and girls are going for a coffee and picnic to Trieste. Sorry, the story took much longer than I was expecting, but well, the adventures were long enough. So enjoy.

sunday morning. 8.00, S. gives a desperate call to Ieva which goes something like this. Are we really going, its so cold and looks terrible outside, are we really going? Sure? Luckily Ieva have the right motivation.

8.30 and we almost meet up, takes couple of more minutes for blonde S. to find a faculty of Arts. 

where I come from.

Thank you for reminding me my roots and the beauty of Riga and Latvia. Its always fun to explain others that never heard about Latvia, but its way much better to hear people knowing about Riga and Latvia. Just have a peak sneak into beautiful Riga.

personal marketing.

when you are treated individually you appreciate it much more than receiving a mass message, that have been approved many times. as yesterday night i got enrolled in contest with a chance to win a paid weekend in Estonia, I had to work hard today to promote myself and my contest entry. decided to use personal approach and as i like to call it, personal marketing. And it worked very good, have to say awesome, i not only reached from zero votes to leading position there, but also spent an online day with getting in touch with my latvian facebook friends. as the contest is in Latvia currently ;)

A note to my dear Latvian readers:

marvelous autumn in Ljubljana

I could not imagine, that with a broken camera
I can shoot such an artistic photo. Ljubljana market it is.

been some days, since last time me being here. Life is still good in Ljubljana, yes, the weather is getting colder, all week long the temperature did not came more up than around +8C. /Yes, yes, I always use + and - signs, as we in Latvia have the - degrees for quite long time./ Luckily today was a surprise, a beautiful +16C outside. half of day was my working day, and half of day spent outside, enjoying the warm weather and having time with myself.

even though its friday, it was my work from home day, as still my C:F colleagues are out of Slovenia, and will be back finally by monday. Already looking forward on meeting them. Been some time since met all of them. Yesterday I was told to go to office, as there would be one of my colleagues, so I did. and thanks to coincidence, I did not had to wait or just go back home, met him directly in elevator, but was very funny, because he was not aware that there wont be anybody else. such a small organization, but already lack of communication and information flow. All in all thursday was great working day.

and yes, sometimes you just need to get yourself in the hands, to encourage yourself and motivate yourself. Nobody else can do it as good as you itself. So i did. that brought me some more peace and no helped to kill my curiosity, or i may say, i did everything to deal with it.

and today i received i think my most late birthday wishes ever. Thank you for that.

days in Serbia. Flashbacks.

today i feel quite lazy on writing something, nothing good comes in my mind, as i am deep in thoughts about my private life. these days being out of work and tough working hours, had too much time for thinking. luckily tomorrow will kill that with being back in office and completely focusing on works. Ok, enough talking. time to show you some "postcards" from Ada days and one of my favorite cities Belgrade. Enjoy.

Week full with sessions, presentations, group works, sharing and team activities.

motivating myself.

i sometimes hate getting back on track days...especially when you have to find yourself a motivation on doing things when its way much easier to just avoid and do all other stuff, but not the one that is really needed. So that`s how i spent first part of day, looking for motivation. When it finally appeared, then the evening was almost here. But well, thats how it happens with me, and not only now but also knowing myself, I prefer working during evening and nights, then i am way much efficient. Well, but now time to go to sleep, tomorrow luckily Ljubljana will be back on track, as the holidays are over and working week is here.

i am back in LJ. trip adventures & foggy day.

after being out of track with my posts, it is indeed really hard to get back on track. i am still trying to figure out where the rest of people gets the motivation. All in all I am back in Ljubljana. Arrived around 24 hours ago. did i said before that it takes 9 hours by train from Belgrade? Well, if you are me and choose the wrong train and time, then it takes you 12 hours, which includes a stop in Zagreb to grab coffee in McDonald`s and waiting for a connecting train to arrive. 

yesterday once more i made sure that not many people knows where is Latvia. this time it happened with Croatian border guard, who needed to put a stamp in my passport. as he also spoke no English, but as far as i understood after him staring couple of minutes on my passport and also asking his colleagues and then me...he was not sure if Latvia was part of EU. Even tried to ask me, and i tried to properly explain, yes, we are since 2004 already. luckily i got a stamp...but that was not it...in like 5 min he was back with a small book, and asked if i could share passport once more...then it took around 2 more min for him to really compare and make sure - YES, Latvia is part of EU.

Besides these couple of adventures, rest of trip was with no big surprises and went quite boring. Although while walking from train station and almost reaching house, a car stopped in middle of road, a guy inside asking me something, but as i was passing did not hear properly his question. As i crossed the street and he was still there and opening the other side window...and as i was guessing he is lost in city...but that was wrong...as he opened window and asked me: "Do you need a ride?". That made the last fun drop of my trip. People do not stop surprising.

31st of October...woke up quite late, but as it is national holiday in Slovenia, then monday - no work day. also no work day for others, meaning also no stores and shops opened. And if you arrive home and find your fridge totally empty, then that may be a problem. So it happened with me. Luckily after around 2 hour walk in city i managed to find one store opened and get some nice food. during the walk LJ amaze me...the autumn with yellow leaves is finally here. With a blue sky and sun shinning it was even more better. Great to be back. Now just have to get back on track.

P.S. there is a saying, things happen when you least expect. today received least expected mail in my inbox...this stupid curiosity keeps on asking to read it. Should I or should I not?